Keepod turns a $7 USB stick into personal computing platform

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It’s no small task to provide 500,000 people anywhere with access to computers, let alone in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya. The folks behind Keepod have a creative solution, however. They want to deliver refurbished computers that can be securely shared thanks to a Linux OS that runs from a $7 USB flash drive.

It’s not quite the “$7 computer” some reports are making it out to be, but it is an incredibly low-cost way to bring computing access to Kenyans on a large scale. Roughly 30 users will share a computer, and local hubs will be set up to provide connectivity and instruction (which local residents will be trained to provide). Each user’s Keepod OS remains private, since all files are kept on the USB drive.

Keepod has taken to Indiegogo to raise $35,000 to get the project rolling. Unlike a lot of gadget-related crowd funding initiatives, the focus here isn’t on the perks: it’s on providing access to computing resources to residents of Nairobi’s Malthare slums.

Keepod made headlines a while back with their so-called computer-in-a-credit-card. Like the one they hope to deliver to Kenya, this was a bootable flash drive — only it was flattened out into a wallet-friendly form factor. The pitch was the same: your own, private computing device that you could take with you and use on any computer (as long as it allows you to boot to USB devices).

Though the ISO download no longer seems to be available on Keepod’s website, you can take a look at the user experience in their Indiegogo gallery. It’s similar to the numerous Linux live CD and live USB distros that have been offered up over the years, with a collection of native apps like Google Chrome, LibreOffice, and even Steam and links to information websites and web-based apps.

The quality of the experience, of course, will depend on the kind of refurbished systems Keepod can get their hands on. Regardless, anything is better than nothing. The computers and flash drives they provide to the people of the Malthare slums will help educate and inspire Kenyans, and connect many to a world they may otherwise never have had the chance to see.